Many With Connecticut Ties In Women's National Team Pool

Geno Auriemma will be again surrounded by familiar faces when USA Basketball opens training camp Sept. 8 for the FIBA World Championship in Turkey.

Among those included in the pool of 27 players invited to tryout are former UConn All-Americans Bria Hartley and Stefanie Dolson, who just completed their rookie seasons with the WNBA's Washington Mystics, and current UConn junior Breanna Stewart, the Associated Press player of the year. Stewart is the only collegian on the roster.

Also in camp will be current WNBA players Maya Moore of the Minnesota Lynx, the 2014 MVP; Diana Taurasi, who helped lead Phoenix to the league's best record; Seattle's Sue Bird; and New York's Tina Charles.

Connecticut Sun rookie Chiney Ogwumike, expected to be named this week as the WNBA rookie of the year, and former Sun guard Lindsay Whalen of the Lynx are also on the roster. Ogwumike and Hartley were just added to the player pool.

Training camp runs Sept. 8-10 at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. The final 12-member, USA Basketball women's world championship team will be named before the start of the FIBA World Championship, Sept. 27-Oct. 5 in Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey.

"The 27 who have been invited represent a cross section of what the USA National Team is ultimately all about," Auriemma said in a press release. "It's some of the best players in the world. It's a combination of past Olympic and World Championship gold medalists. It's also young players who have also won gold medals at various levels of USA Basketball, pros in the WNBA, college players, veterans and rookies and everything in between. I think we're going to be able to pick a 12-player roster that's going to be as good as any team we've ever had."

Those not playing the WNBA Finals will begin training camp Sept. 8-10 at the Naval Academy. . WNBA teams still in the playoff hunt include the Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever in the East and Minnesota Lynx and Phoenix Mercury in the West.

The U.S. will compete in two exhibitions during domestic training. The first game is the USA Basketball women's national team showcase, an intrasquad game scheduled for 7 p.m. on Sept. 11 at the University of Delaware. . The team will then play Canada, featuring UConn freshman point guard Kia Nurse, at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport on Sept. 15 at 7 p.m.